Acxiom Corporation (ACXM) reported revenues of $288.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, down 2.4% from a year ago. Excluding an Information Products pass-through contract (approximately $7.4 million),revenues were flat with the year-ago quarter.
This contract was modified in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 and Acxiom no longer recognizes any pass-through revenue from this contract.
Gross margin came in at 26.5% compared with 26.7% in the year-ago quarter. Operating margin came in at 16.6% compared with 14.1% in the year-ago quarter. Net income per share came in at 21 cents per share compared with a net income of 29 cents in the year-ago quarter. Excluding unusual items, net income came in at 19 cents, easily beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 17 cents.
On a segment basis, Information Services generated revenues of $221.6 million, up 1.2% from a year ago. Information Products generated revenues of $66.8 million, up 3.4% from a year ago.
During the quarter, Acxiom generated $87.9 million of cash from operations and used $26.6 million in capital expenditures.
As of March 31, 2010, Acxiom had cash and equivalents of $224.1 million, up from $200.6 million at the end of the previous quarter. Total debt was $500.6 million, down from $525.3 million at the end of the previous quarter.
For fiscal 2010, revenues came in at $1.099 billion, down 8.8% from a year ago. Earnings per share (EPS) came in at 56 cents compared with 48 cents in the year-ago quarter. Excluding the effect of the unusual items, EPS came in at 76 cents.
Going forward, management expects an improvement in the economic outlook and a continued return to seasonal revenue and improvements in operating margin.
Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, Acxiom integrates data, services and technology to create and deliver customer and information management solutions for client companies. Acxiom has locations throughout the United States and Europe, as well as in Australia and China.
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